Grid Penalties for Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc at São Paulo Grand Prix

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will all be fighting their way through the field at the São Paulo Grand Prix after being hit with grid penalties for engine changes.

Red Bull have opted to fit Verstappen with an entirely new power unit after discovering problems following Friday practice, a call that drops the world champion to the very back of the grid. It is a brutal starting point at Interlagos, but not unfamiliar territory.

Hamilton and Leclerc, both Ferrari drivers this weekend, will each take 10-place grid penalties after fitting new internal combustion engines. Mercedes’ George Russell is also sanctioned, though his drop is limited to five places.

The scale of the penalties reflects how far each driver has pushed the season’s engine allocation. Leclerc, Hamilton and Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Hamilton exceed the permitted limit of four internal combustion engines for the first time, triggering heavier punishment. Russell had already gone beyond his allowance earlier in the year, so this latest change brings a smaller hit.

For Verstappen, the setback comes at a circuit where he has already rewritten the script once. He famously charged from 17th on the grid to win the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix after an engine penalty in a wet, chaotic race, turning a compromised Saturday into a statement Sunday.

Now he faces an even steeper climb from the very back. Interlagos has seen him do it before. The rest of the grid knows what that usually means.